Free Bounty Hunter 1: The Bounty Hunter's Revenge by Joseph Anderson Page B

were
getting near to the ship and into range of my smaller rifle. I wanted to make
sure they were as close as possible so I wouldn’t miss. I only needed one of
them alive, and I moved the rifle in as small motions as I could to minimize
the chance that they would notice it. I lined up the cross hairs on the unarmed
man first and then to the sniper.
    The stopped and the sniper crouched down
to look for me. In the time it took him to bend his knees I shifted the rifle
and fired twice at his hands. The first shot missed, but the second slammed
above his forearm and into the broad side of the rifle’s stock. It whipped out
of his hands and I twisted out of my cover. Cass released the faceplate and I
brought the rifle up to my face as she did so.
    “Don’t move!” I shouted.
    Through the scope I saw the sniper
scrunch up his face in frustration. He put up his hands but the other man did
not. A look of panic washed over his face and he made an idiotic display of
indecision as he danced on the spot, deciding whether he should run.
    “Moron! He’s got us!” The sniper yelled
at him.
    The alarmed man seemed to ignore both of
us and bolted for the ship. I only needed one of them alive, I had just
reasoned, and this just made the decision easy for me. I tracked his head
smoothly through the scope and squeezed the trigger. A single bullet cratered
the back of his skull. He fell down dead onto the door of the ship, and his
face leaked blood all over it.
    The sniper hadn’t moved and I realized I
had a grudging respect for this man. His skill as a marksman was impressive,
even if his common sense wasn’t great. He was intelligent enough to realize
when he was beaten and knew to take his chances with surrender. Even so, I
didn’t take the sights of my gun from him.
    “Your name?” I called out as I walked
toward him.
    “Edward.”
    “Is that your real name?”
    “No.”
    “Not that it matters,” Cass said into my
ear.
    I nodded. I had Cass unlock the
grappling hook’s latch on my belt and I pulled the length of the line as much
as I could before slicing through it with the blade in my left arm. The hook
hadn’t fared well over the years, and was a bloody mess from being used to drag
animal parts and carcasses. I severed the line below the hook itself and tossed
it away.
    Despite how accommodating Edward was
being, I still refused to take any unnecessary risk when I was so close to
getting off the planet. When I was close enough to him, I smacked him across
the head with the back of the rifle. It wasn’t hard enough to knock him
unconscious, but he was dazed and reeling on the floor.
    I pulled his arms up and wrapped the
hook’s line around his arms and fastened it tightly. This knot was repeated two
more times, and the remaining length of the line was threaded under his legs
and back around his arms again. I made one final knot and was satisfied that he
was unable to even get upright without my help, never mind get his arms free.
    “Stay,” I said simply, and I carried his
sniper rifle with me as I walked into the ship. I kicked the corpse of the
other man from the door as I did so. His blood was leaving a stain on my new
home.
     
     
    The ship’s bay was stacked with as many
containers as I could cram into it. The engine of the ship protruded even in
this area and took up a large portion of the ceiling. A lot of containers were
left behind—mostly food and less valuable items. I had no doubt that Adam had
found a way to strip away all of my possessions and funds that I had earned
over the years of our partnership. What I could take with me and sell would end
up being essential.
    The bodies of all of the men had been
piled together outside of the base, not far from where Edward was still tied
up. I was holding his sniper rifle again as I walked toward him. The weapon was
in pristine condition, and he obviously took a lot of pride in keeping it that
way. I held it as a constant reminder that I had beaten him, and